Baking
57 recipes
This recipe has been a total game changer for me. This is a dish from the original Flying Fish restaurant, Sydney by Sri Lankan chef Peter Kuruvita – where they serve a bowl of fragrant curry on the side to a beautifully cooked snapper fillet. So, you can pour over the sauce as you go and as you wish.
Why I love this concept, is not only that the curry is divine, but it is perfect for dinner parties when I have different dietary requirements at the table – I can keep it vegetarian for those guests, I can serve it with the snapper for the seafood lovers, and I can serve it with roast chicken for the rest – all at one party!
The other reasons I love this recipe – as the curry is separate from the fish, not only can I make it in advance ready to reheat on the day, but I can freeze any left-over curry sauce easily. I also adore freshly pan-fried snapper fillets, pure simplicity, and my favourite white fish. However, you can serve this with any seasonal fish you like, or any other main ingredient -a Sri Lankan curry is defined by lots of fresh curry leaves and spices and very flexible.
Friends request me to make this for dinner all the time. I have tweaked the recipe here for the home cook, from the one I found in the Gourmet Traveller magazine.
To note – if making the curry in advance and reheating, be careful not to overcook the sweet potato as it can go too soft, so only reheat briefly and ready to serve straight away.
Serves 6 . DF. GF. Freezes well.
Pictured: Little bowl of Sri Lankan sweet potato curry
Curry-
Ingredients
- 25g each of butter and a light vegetable or olive oil – or 50g ghee
- ¼ cup dried curry leaves, or fresh is you have them
- 5 cloves of garlic, chopped
- 2 large brown onions, finely chopped
- 2 tsp ground turmeric
- 1 stick of cinnamon
- ½ tsp cardamom
- 1/3 cup curry powder – Sri Lankan if you can find it, try the favourite Fiji Market on King St Newtown where I like the Natraj Special Mix Hot Curry Powder, otherwise I like Bolst’s mild curry which you can find in David Jones Food Halls. Any favourite curry powder can work.
- 1.5 litres chicken stock
- 2 tsp fennel seeds – you can soak in water for 10 minutes to remove the slightly bitter taste they have if you have time
- 1.2kg sweet potato, cut into 1cm pieces
- 1 x 375ml tins coconut cream
- 1 x 375ml tins coconut milk
- Snapper-
- vegetable oil for frying
- 6 snapper fillets [about 200 gm each], skin on and pin-boned
- To serve-
- Steamed basmati rice, plain yoghurt, chutney and pickles
Method
Heat the oil and butter or ghee in a large casserole pot til hot and hazy, add the onion, garlic and curry leaves and toss to coat and let soften for a few minutes – do not brown.
Add the spices –turmeric, cinnamon, cardamom, curry powder and coat the onions again and cook gently a few minutes to release the fragrance.
Add the fennel seeds and stock and bring to the boil, add the sweet potato and simmer for 8 – 10 minutes til just cooked. Once almost ready add the coconut milk and cream and turn the heat off if preparing advance, to allow it to cool and be placed in the fridge for later. Otherwise let it come back to boil and simmer the last minute or two before serving to mingle the flavours.
When ready to serve, heat a fry pan to high and add the oil – place snapper skin side down into pan and press firmly straight away to stop the fish from curling too much on impact with the hot oil. Once it has settled let cook away on high heat til nice and golden, approximately 4 minutes, then turn and finish cooking the other side for another 3 minutes or so – the flesh should just start to flake.
To serve – place a ladle of rice in each shallow bowl, topped with a piece of snapper and small bowls of curry on the side, condiments on the table.
Dietary preferences
- Gluten-Free with ingredient checks
- Dairy-Free with substitutions
